


Minimum Size

by MilayaMilenZeal



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Doujinshi inspired, M/M, Uncooperative mouth, references to other fandoms - Freeform, unexpected situations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:27:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26790628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MilayaMilenZeal/pseuds/MilayaMilenZeal
Summary: After much debate amongst each other, the Higher-ups finally decided upon a suitable punishment for Joshua for his Game with Kitaniji Megumi… and it left Joshua incredibly frustrated.--OR--Neku gets called over to WildKat by Mr. H, where he's asked to look after this 6-year-old kid who is apparently Joshua's little brother...?It's gonna be a looooooong week...
Relationships: Kiryu "Joshua" Yoshiya & Sakuraba Neku
Kudos: 3





	1. Prelude: Minimum Size

**Author's Note:**

> Found this in my DropBox suddenly and realized I hadn't ever finished it, so hey.
> 
> This is inspired by a doujinshi I read with the same name. Reason I made this originally was because Joshua's face on several panels was absolutely PRICELESS.
> 
> Enjoy~

If there’s one thing I’ve always been rather proud of (though many would likely argue I’m proud of _everything_ I do/am), it’s the fact that I've never actively cursed in my whole life, _and_ my afterlife, too. I’ve just never seen much reason in my life to curse, and I was convinced for a long time that it would stay like that until the end of my days…

You know what’s funny? Life likes to throw you these annoying curveballs that, pardon the phrasing, like to fuck up your life _very_ much…

 _“_ Oh you have _got_ to be…! God… _fuckin’ **dammit!**_ When I get my hands on those goddamn… **bastards** I’ll just-- _hrrrrgh!!_ ”

Yep… so much for my “no swearing” record…

Of course, I knew it was coming; it was just a matter of time before the brass up above managed to think up a suitable punishment for my Game with Megumi, since I _had_ almost destroyed Shibuya without ever thinking twice about it. They couldn’t just Erase me, though, because I had no more Conductor who could take over once I was gone, and that was my only solace in knowing that I was still allowed to exist. For a little while, at least, because really, who knows with those guys up above?

This… _this_ however… I was so _not_ going to let them get away with **_this!_**

“Oy, Boss! What just hap--!”

Mr. H’s expression is pretty much what I had expected of it since it was identical to mine when I had looked into the mirror that morning; very very surprised.

It isn’t everyday someone gets turned into a 6-year-old toddler, after all…

The one thing I had always hated of my life, more so than my “unnatural” coloring, was my own childhood. I suppose there’s quite a lot of people who can say that they had an unhappy childhood, and everyone has their own reasons as to why, but for me, it was a little worse than the norm.

I was born as the youngest son (by about a minute) of Kiryu Tenrimaru and Elizabeth Gardner. They never did marry, but they did stay with each other until the end. Mother doted on me, and Father on my twin brother, and while this was usually not much of a problem, there were times that we wanted the other parent’s attention. In that case, we “switched” with each other, and despite them being our parents, they never realized what we had done.

When we turned five, our family got involved in a car accident, with myself and my brother being the only survivors. As we had no more family, we were soon sent to an orphanage either until someone adopted us or until we were proper adults.

Out of the two of us, it was my brother who was the strongest, both mentally and physically. The longer we stayed in that place, the more I felt our once strong connection breaking apart, as Brother began to hang out with other friends and left me to fend for myself, mostly. Because of this, I was always an easy target for bullies, and without my brother to help me, I eventually retreated into my own shell.

I told myself it was fine, and I always tried so hard to ignore the bruises along my arms…

No one was going to help me, anyway… and my only wish became to grow up as soon as I possibly could. That was why… I hated being so little…

“Okay, sooo… what do you plan to do, Josh?”

I sigh slightly in annoyance. “Not much I _can_ do, Mr. H,” I say simply, though I am trying very hard to not start cursing all over again (thus far I’m succeeding at it). “I can’t command Noise like this, nor can I oversee the Game like this. So I’m afraid I don’t have any other choice but to wait it out and see how long this lasts.”

As fun as it might be to take a break, though, I know I can’t stay here at WildKat forever. I have no idea how long this stupid punishment is going to last, but I don’t want to spend it all cooped up inside. The main problem is that I’m forcibly tuned up to the RG and in this current body it’s not recommended to go out alone. This leaves me at an impasse; what am I supposed to do for who knows how long?

“Well, I could keep an eye on things for you if you want, but what will you do? Gonna stay inside all day?”

“Of course not!” In this weather? It’s mid-summer! I’m _not_ staying inside with this weather! _Especially_ not when I’m forced into the RG like this! “I just need to figure out how to get out to _do_ stuff…”

Mr. H hums in thought with one hand rubbing at the stubble on his chin. “Well… there _is_ one easy way…”

…I’m not sure I like the sound of that…

_This is not going to end well this is not going to end well this is not going to end well…_

That’s really all that’s going through my head as I adjust my “new clothes”, which consists of a pair of blue shorts with black suspenders, a lighter blue shirt and some simple shoes with velcro straps instead of shoelaces. I don’t like this look _at all_ , but I don’t have a lot of choice…

I know who Mr. H called a few minutes ago without even needing to Scan him (not that I could, mind you), and the thought of _him_ seeing me like this is, oddly, embarrassing. I _really_ hope that he’ll believe Mr. H’s story, because I really don’t want to imagine what might happen otherwise…

The bell over the door rings and I try to not let my anxiety show (which is very hard to do, oddly, when you’re stuck in such a young body) as _he_ walks in. I instinctively cling to Mr. H’s pants leg as I try to stay as indifferent as I can.

 _Why_ oh _why_ is it so hard though!?

“You wanted to see me, Mr. H?” Neku calls out, once he’s closed the door behind him, before he seems to notice me and he blinks in surprise. “Hm?”

“Oh hey, Phones, thanks for coming,” Mr. H quips, and he seems to ignore how Neku was looking at me just then. His words draw Neku’s attention to him (for now), however, which is a slight relief. “I was wondering if you could look after this kid for a while for me.”

Of course he’s surprised (and confused, I’ll bet), before he looks back to me and I resist the sudden urge to duck behind Mr. H, though my fingers do clutch to the material of his pants tighter when he does.

“Since I’m busy, I’d like you to look after him until Josh comes back.”

_Would you please stop looking at me so much? This is bad enough on me as it is already, Neku!_

He crouches down to look at me better and this time I do duck back just a little as he regards me.

“…This kid looks exactly like that guy.”

“AH! Well, this is his little brother! His little brother!”

Oh yeah, _really_ believable when you put it so nervously, Mr. H… I can already tell he doesn’t believe a word of it; I can see it on his face, and yet he doesn’t say anything about it. I’ll bet he will the moment we’re outside, though… just wait…

“In any case, I’m counting on you.”

_Please don’t ask questions please don’t ask…_

“…Yeah, sure.”

_Phew!_

I’m barely able to keep my sigh of relief to myself, but really, _what_ would I be sighing for?! This can’t possibly end well… there’s _no_ way this is going to end well!

I’m screwed…


	2. Little Mouse

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but Neku is taking this surprisingly well. He offered to hold my hand and he walked slow enough for me to keep up. I hate having these tiny legs… I swear; the brass up above _knew_ I hated being small like this and that’s _why_ they did this to me!

Even before my brother continued to grow taller and I remained tiny, I hated being as small as I was…

And really, it just wasn’t _fair!_ Brother was getting taller every day and I only grew a little bit every time… that was so _not fair!_

…Maybe that’s why I was so happy when a new kid came who was barely an inch shorter than me, even though he was a year older…

Neku’s let go of my hand for a moment to stop and stretch his arms a little, though he does appear to be a little lost in thought. That kinda makes me wish I could just Scan him and know what he’s thinking of…

**_Grumble…_ **

…Oh great…

After taking a brief moment to gather my nerves, I reach up, standing on my tiptoes so I can reach the bottom of his shirt to tug on it. “Neku-kun…”

He looks down to me immediately, and the slightly surprised look on his face means he probably didn’t expect me to do that. However, he does crouch down and leans on his knees so he can look at me better and asks me: “Yeah, what’s wrong?”

It’s a little embarrassing for me to say though, because, usually, I don’t say this (even to Mr. H)… but dammit I _have_ to now…

“I’m hungry…” I say and by the time I realize my voice sounds a little muffled, it’s too late to remove my finger from my mouth already… goddammit…

I don’t know what kind of expression I had on my face because of it, but it must’ve been good since Neku’s chuckling softly. “Ah, right, right…” he says, still chuckling, before he reaches out and ruffles my hair a little. “So… what do you want to eat?”

Yeeeaaah… good question, what _do_ I want…?

Ramen…? Not really.

Mexican maybe… No way.

Hmm… maybe…

“Um… French fries!”

…hey, mouth? Wait for my brain to catch up, will you?

Sunshine has never been high on my list of places I’d go to to have lunch, because, really, a lot of the food there has far too much cholesterol to be good for anyone, even if you took a kiddy meal. And yet, as we sit down at one of the tables with our meals, I’m almost openly drooling as Neku hands me my hamburger, already unwrapped on one end for me. I don’t know if it’s me being so small that it tastes so good or if it’s because I’m just really hungry right now, but either way, it tastes _much_ better than I ever remember.

“Tasty?” Neku asks after he takes a bite of his own burger, and I can’t help but notice that he’s still smiling. That in itself is a rare sight, and I’m sure that, had I been my normal size, he would’ve never showed me that.

“Yep!” I say with a smile of my as I munch on a fry. As I do, though, I can’t help but remember something from long ago… something I used to do to. I pick up a fry after putting down my burger and push up a little to lean over the table. “Neku-kun, aaah!”

Of course he’s surprised, but he recovers soon and he says: “It’s okay… I can eat it by myself.”

Should’ve seen that coming… Let me think… how did I do _that_ again…? Stick out my bottom lip a little, make my eyes as big as possible while arching up my eyebrows and basically just look as sad as possible…

Been a while since I last did that (I think the term for the expression is “puppy dog eyes”), but it seems to still work as well as it did before, and I can almost see a sweatdrop on Neku’s forehead. “…I’ll eat it,” he mumbles softly before he leans forward and takes a bite of the fry I’m still holding out. When he finishes it, he mutters with a small half-smile: “…It’s good.”

“Isn’t it!”

…How strange…

This reminds me so much of _him_ … it’s almost funny…

Now that I think about it… he was… similar… to Neku… though I _really_ hope that not _everything_ is the same. Hopefully…

 _He_ was also rather withdrawn, and he didn’t talk much, even when he was spoken to. He preferred to stay by himself, and never bothered with others. But I could tell that he was… lonely… I could tell that he wanted someone to call “friend”…

…I wonder if he’s okay…

“That was delicious!” I say as we leave Sunshine behind, heading out the door first, even as I hear Neku say: “Yeah, it was.”

You know… maybe being small isn’t _so_ bad… If this is how I have to go through being so small, I think I could actually get used to it (not to say I want to stay this way _forever_ , mind you). The only real problem there may be is what might happen when (and that’s a definite _when_ ) Neku finds out exactly what happened and who I _really_ am…

…Better think of something else before I start getting too nervous over nothing… …? Hello?

_Did they always have these crane games here or are these new?_

I find myself thinking that as I regard the machines that are lined up along a nearby wall. It’s actually been a while since I last saw any of those, so seeing them here is—

…oh…my…god…

Does that one have…?

I quickly move over to the machine in question and stand up on my tiptoes to look at its contents to make sure I didn’t see wrong.

I didn’t.

“Pikachu…” I breathe out as I stare at the almost lifelike plushy that’s resting snugly on top of those funny-looking blue penguins, majorly out of place when compared to its surroundings. (1)

I never really got into games much, but Pokémon I _definitely_ got into since it was first brought out, if only because _he_ had owned a copy of the green version. (2) He sometimes let me use his save file to play (after some persuasion) but he never let me start a game of my own. Well… given that you can only have a single save file and how he had already poured over a hundred hours in it, I suppose it was only fair…

I had never really considered ever getting a doll of it… but when you see everyone else walking around with one, you start to feel left out without one…

“…Do you want it?”

When Neku asks me that, I blink up to him curiously and notice he’s pointing to the Pikachu doll.

…I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want it, and I think Neku noticed it on my face, since he pulled out a 100¥ coin and pushed it into its slot… but…

“But…” I started, but Neku didn’t look up and focused only on the game. I resisted the urge to sigh as I turned around to lean back against the machine with my hands behind my back, looking down to my feet pointedly. “It’s too big… we can’t get it out…”

Brother always said that; they always made the prizes bigger than the crane so that no one could grab them, forcing them to put in more and more coins. That’s why I was never allowed to try such a game…

“Oy.”

I try not to sigh and look up when Neku says that – and almost jump and cry out when I’ve suddenly got a face full of yellow plush with red cheeks and black eyes.

“I’ll give this to you,” Neku says with a smile I’ve never seen on his face before, as he holds the huge plushy out to me.

How… how did he…? With one coin…? This thing is almost _half_ my size (and I know I’m not that big now, but _still!_ ), and yet he got it out with only _one_ 100¥ coin…

…Ah hell, whatever. Who cares, really?

“Thank you, Neku-kun…” I mumble, a little bashfully as I hold Pikachu to my right shoulder, because he _did_ just give me a gift even though he clearly didn’t have to.

“You’re welcome,” he says, still smiling as he starts to walk ahead. “Let’s go?”

I give him a quick nod and hurry after him, and he starts walking one step at a time to let me catch up. But just as I’m almost by his side, my foot suddenly slips out from under me and I can only yelp as I land face first on the ground.

Normally, I would’ve just hissed in pain from landing so roughly while at the same time trying to save face. Now, however… my mouth moves before I give it permission to say anything…

“UWAAAAAAAAAAAA!! IT HUUUUUUUUURTS!”

…had I had a little more control over myself, I likely would’ve shouted at Neku to _stop_ smirking like that coz it’s _not funny dammit!!_

“Neku-kun! Let’s go together!”

Neku doesn’t even object as I tug him along by one hand, while keeping Pikachu to my shoulder with the other. Had I been my real size, he would’ve never allowed it, I’m sure. Being small is much more profitable than I had originally given it credit for…

As I walk on, though, my vision starts blurring around the edges, and it’s almost like I’m getting dizzy. Add to that the fact that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to walk straight.

‘Huh…?’

“What’s wrong?” Neku asks as I reach up to rub at my eyes.

“Mm… nothing…” I mumble, but a little after, I realize what’s going on…

_I should’ve known… little kids get tired quickly…_

I find struggling not to yawn (a useless effort).

_But I wanted to depend on Neku-kun mooore…_

…Dammit now I’m starting to _think_ like a little kid!

Before I can curse at myself any further (I’ve been doing that a lot since this morning, haven’t I?) I almost yelp as my feet suddenly lift off the ground. When I look back, I see Neku lifting me up from the ground effortlessly.

“You’re sleepy, right?” he asks as he turns me around so I’m facing him.

“You’ll get tired!” I exclaim almost immediately without thinking.

Neku just shakes his head a bit and adjusts his grip on me so my head rests on his shoulder. “It’s okay,” he says simply, and then he begins to walk again.

…I… wasn’t expecting this… Neku is… surprisingly kind, and maybe that’s just because I’m small… but whatever the reason is, Neku’s much nicer than he would like people to believe.

As Neku continues walking, though, I suddenly realize something; this is the first time since the end of the Game with Megumi that I saw Neku again. I mean, that he was actually able to see me, too. Of course I was able to keep an eye on him, but I didn’t actively try to follow him or anything even though he asked me to come to Hachiko so many times…

…I was just no longer part of his world…

…I wonder…

“Neku-kun,” I say after a moment longer of thought. “Do you like oniichan?”

When I finish my question, Neku stops almost immediately and asks: “What’s this all of a sudden?!”

“It’s an important matter!” I say firmly as I push back slightly to look him in the eye.

I kinda wish I didn’t when he looks at me with a bit of an angry glare (though it’s not quite there yet…). “So now he’s making his little brother do his dirty work?”

“…yes.”

Dammit, voice! Don’t squeak!

Neku sighs softly as he continues to walk again, and I almost think he’s not going to answer me… but then…

“He’s self-centered,” he mumbles, “and selfish.”

…okay, I deserved that, I guess… Don’t think I’ve done anything to make him _not_ hate me, but still, to have him say that is… well not very pleasant, I guess is the best (and most polite) way to put it. I blame this lowered frequency for it, but hearing those words almost makes me want to cry… and quite loudly at that, but I force myself to keep quiet.

“…but…”

_…huh?_

“Even though he’s such an unpleasant guy… I don’t hate him.”

…wha…? S-seriously?! Even after… after all I’ve done he still… he doesn’t…?

For a few brief moments, I can only stare in slight surprise, unable to find my voice to speak my mind (and maybe that’s a good thing now that I think about it), but when I am able to find it again, I allow a smile and chirp (goddammit voice!): “My big brother likes you too, Neku-kun!”

This makes him blink slightly in surprise, but, after a little while, he smiles and says: “Yeah… I know.”

Huh…?

“Just shush and rest up, a’ight?” he chuckles out and places my head back on his shoulder as he walks on.

I don’t want to… not really, anyway… but the way Neku’s body seems to rock with every step he takes is surprisingly soothing…

Before I’m even really aware of it, my eyes have fallen shut and I find myself dozing off despite my best intentions…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) The blue penguins are Prinnies from Disgaea, dood!  
> (2) In Japan, Blue was the last version to come out, as they began with Red and Green instead.


End file.
